The Madagascan genus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Vaughania</Emphasis> is reduced to synonymy under <Emphasis Type="Italic">Indigofera</Emphasis> (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Leguminosae-Papilionoideae-Indigofereae</Emphasis>)

Summary  Eleven species comprising the Madagascan genus Vaughania are subsumed within the large pantropical genus Indigofera. Six new combinations are made; the remaining species were originally described in Indigofera.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Phuphanochloa,</Emphasis> a new bamboo genus (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Poaceae</Emphasis>: <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bambusoideae</Emphasis>) from Thailand

Summary  A new monotypic bamboo genus Phuphanochloa (Poaceae: Bambusoideae) from north-eastern Thailand is described, together with a new species, P. speciosa.     

A new species of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Macroptilium</Emphasis> (Benth.) Urb. (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Leguminosae</Emphasis>: <Emphasis Type="Italic">Papilionoideae</Emphasis>: <Emphasis Type="Italic">Phaseolinae</Emphasis>) from North-Eastern Brazil

Summary  A new species of Macroptilium sect. Microcochle (Benth.) J. A. Lackey is herein described from the states of Piauí and Bahia, Brazil. Macroptilium cochleatum is characterized by few-flowered inflorescences, calyx teeth longer than the tube, a tightly four-coiled keel, and linear, patent fruits. The discovery of this unique Macroptilium species, with its distally coiled keel, expands the diagnostic features of the genus. A key to the Brazilian species of sect. Microcochle is provided.     

A revision of the genus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Podococcus</Emphasis> (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Arecaceae</Emphasis>)

Summary  A taxonomic revision of the palm genus Podococcus (Arecaceae) is presented. Two species are recognised: P. barteri, a species relatively widespread in a coastal band from Nigeria to the D. R. Congo and P. acaulis, a species previously considered conspecific to P. barteri, almost exclusively confined to Gabon. The taxonomic history, morphology, distribution and conservation status of the genus and each species are discussed     

A new species of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Brasiliomyces</Emphasis> (Erysiphaceae) on <Emphasis Type="Italic">Dalbergia cultrata</Emphasis> var. <Emphasis Type="Italic">cultrata</Emphasis> from Thailand

A powdery mildew fungus on leaves of Dalbergia cultrata var. cultrata (Fabaceae) collected at the Queen Sirikit Botanical Garden in northern Thailand is proven to be a new species of the genus Brasiliomyces and is described as B. chiangmaiensis sp. nov. with light and SEM micrographs. Differences in known Brasiliomyces species are discussed, and a key to species of this genus is provided.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Funastrum rupicola</Emphasis> (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Apocynaceae:</Emphasis><Emphasis Type="Italic">Asclepiadoideae</Emphasis>), a new species from Bolivia

Summary   Funastrum rupicola Goyder, a new species of Apocynaceae: Asclepiadoideae from Bolivia, is described and illustrated. The conservation status of this species is assessed.     

Two new names in West-Central African <Emphasis Type="Italic">Quassia</Emphasis> L. (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Simaroubaceae</Emphasis>)

Summary  Two West-Central African species of Hannoa Planch. are formally resurrected in the genus Quassia L. and the necessary new names provided.     

A remarkable range disjunction recorded in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Metarungia pubinervia</Emphasis> (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Acanthaceae</Emphasis>)

Summary  The first occurrence of the genus Metarungia Baden (Acanthaceae) in west Africa is recorded with the discovery of an isolated population of the widespread eastern African taxon M. pubinervia (T. Anderson) Baden in eastern Nigeria. The conservation status of this species is discussed.     

Phylogenetic Studies of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Gordonia</Emphasis> Species Based on <Emphasis Type="Italic">gyrB</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">secA1</Emphasis> Gene Analyses

Phylogenetic relations within the genus Gordonia were analyzed using partial gyrB and secA1 gene sequences of 23 type species in comparison with those of 16S rRNA gene. The gyrB and secA1 phylogenies showed agreement with that constructed using 16S rRNA gene sequences. The degrees of divergence of the gyrB and secA1 genes were approximately 3.4 and 1.7 times greater, respectively, than that of 16S rRNA gene. The gyrB gene showed more discriminatory power than either the secA1 or 16S rRNA gene, facilitating clear differentiation of any two Gordonia species using gyrB gene analysis. Our data indicate that gyrB and secA1 gene sequences are useful as markers for phylogenetic study and identification at the species level of the genus Gordonia.     

Karyotypic and molecular polymorphisms in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ctenomys</Emphasis><Emphasis Type="Italic">torquatus</Emphasis> (Rodentia: Ctenomyidae): taxonomic considerations

The rodent genus Ctenomys (tuco-tucos) comprises more than 60 described species, and shows extraordinary inter- and intraspecific karyotypic variation. The most widely distributed species of Ctenomys in Brazil is C. torquatus. Although several cytogenetic studies have been done, the karyotypic variability of this species is still poorly known. In this paper we report two new diploid numbers for C. torquatus: 2n = 40 and 2n = 42, both showing AN = 72. The new distribution limits of C. torquatus here reported include localities in the southern, central and western parts of Rio Grande do Sul (RS) State in southern Brazil. The phylogenetic relationship between C. torquatus from Alegrete, RS, and Ctenomys sp. from Corrientes, Argentina, is described by means of mtDNA cytochrome b analysis. Although both entities share similar karyotypes and sperm morphology, these two species are not phylogenetically close.     

The use of <Emphasis Type="Italic">gyrB</Emphasis> sequence analysis in the phylogeny of the genus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Amycolatopsis</Emphasis>

Partial gyrB sequences (>1 kb) were obtained from 34 type strains of the genus Amycolatopsis. Phylogenetic trees were constructed to determine the effectiveness of using this gene to predict taxonomic relationships within the genus. The use of gyrB sequence analysis as an alternative to DNA–DNA hybridization was also assessed for distinguishing closely related species. The gyrB based phylogeny mostly confirmed the conventional 16S rRNA gene-based phylogeny and thus provides additional support for certain of these 16S rRNA gene-based phylogenetic groupings. Although pairwise gyrB sequence similarity cannot be used to predict the DNA relatedness between type strains, the gyrB genetic distance can be used as a means to assess quickly whether an isolate is likely to represent a new species in the genus Amycolatopsis. In particular a genetic distance of >0.02 between two Amycolatopsis strains (based on a 315 bp variable region of the gyrB gene) is proposed to provide a good indication that they belong to different species (and that polyphasic taxonomic characterization of the unknown strain is worth undertaking). Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. The GenBank accession numbers for the gyrB gene sequences obtained in this study are shown in Table 1.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Drosophila</Emphasis><Emphasis Type="Italic">P</Emphasis> transposons of the urochordata <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ciona intestinalis</Emphasis>

P transposons belong to the eukaryotic DNA transposons, which are transposed by a cut and paste mechanism using a P-element-coded transposase. They have been detected in Drosophila, and reside as single copies and stable homologous sequences in many vertebrate species. We present the P elements Pcin1, Pcin2 and Pcin3 from Ciona intestinalis, a species of the most primitive chordates, and compare them with those from Ciona savignyi. They showed typical DNA transposon structures, namely terminal inverted repeats and target site duplications. The coding region of Pcin1 consisted of 13 small exons that could be translated into a P-transposon-homologous protein. C. intestinalis and C. savignyi displayed nearly the same phenotype. However, their P elements were highly divergent and the assumed P transposase from C. intestinalis was more closely related to the transposase from Drosophila melanogaster than to the transposase of C. savignyi. The present study showed that P elements with typical features of transposable DNA elements may be found already at the base of the chordate lineage. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Typhonium stigmatilobatum</Emphasis> (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Araceae</Emphasis> tribe <Emphasis Type="Italic">Areae</Emphasis>), a new species from Vietnam

Summary   Typhonium stigmatilobatum V. D. Nguyen, a new species from Vietnam, is described and illustrated.     

The <Emphasis Type="Italic">Caenorhabditis</Emphasis><Emphasis Type="Italic">briggsae</Emphasis> genome contains active <Emphasis Type="Italic">CbmaT1</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Tcb1</Emphasis> transposons

The maT clade of transposons is a group of transposable elements intermediate in sequence and predicted protein structure to mariner and Tc transposons, with a distribution thus far limited to a few invertebrate species. We present evidence, based on searches of publicly available databases, that the nematode Caenorhabditis briggsae has several maT-like transposons, which we have designated as CbmaT elements, dispersed throughout its genome. We also describe two additional transposon sequences that probably share their evolutionary history with the CbmaT transposons. One resembles a fold back variant of a CbmaT element, with long (380-bp) inverted terminal repeats (ITRs) that show a high degree (71%) of identity to CbmaT1. The other, which shares only the 26-bp ITR sequences with one of the CbmaT variants, is present in eight nearly identical copies, but does not have a transposase gene and may therefore be cross mobilised by a CbmaT transposase. Using PCR-based mobility assays, we show that CbmaT1 transposons are capable of excising from the C. briggsae genome. CbmaT1 excised approximately 500 times less frequently than Tcb1 in the reference strain AF16, but both CbmaT1 and Tcb1 excised at extremely high frequencies in the HK105 strain. The HK105 strain also exhibited a high frequency of spontaneous induction of unc-22 mutants, suggesting that it may be a mutator strain of C. briggsae.     

Phylogeny of Chinese <Emphasis Type="Italic">Polystichum</Emphasis> (Dryopteridaceae) based on chloroplast DNA sequence data (<Emphasis Type="Italic">trnL-F</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">rps4-trnS</Emphasis>)

Polystichum is one of the largest and most taxonomically complex fern genera in China. The evolutionary relationships of Chinese Polystichum and related genera, and the relationship between our Polystichum phylogeny and ecogeographic distribution, were tested by the use of DNA sequence data. Fifty-one species of Polystichum and 21 species in allied genera were sequenced for the plastid intergenic spacers rps4-trnS and trnL-F. Maximum parsimony and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses of both individual and combined data sets showed that Chinese Polystichum as commonly recognized was paraphyletic: one clade (the CCPC clade) included Cyrtomidictyum lepidocaulon, two Cyrtogonellum species, three Cyrtomium species, and a small number of Polystichum species usually occurring on limestone. A second clade, Polystichum sensu stricto, included the remainder of the Polystichum species; these often occur on non-limestone substrates. The remaining Cyrtomium species formed the third clade. Three subclades resolved within Polystichum sensu stricto (s.s.) clade do not correspond with recent sectional classifications, and we outline the issues relevant to a new classification for the genus. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Phylogeny of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Litsea</Emphasis> and related genera (Laureae-Lauraceae) based on analysis of <Emphasis Type="Italic">rpb2</Emphasis> gene sequences

The relationship between Litsea and related genera is currently unclear. Previous molecular studies on these taxa using cpDNA and nrITS were unable to produce well-resolved phylogenetic trees. In this study, we explored the potential of the rpb2 gene as a source of molecular information to better resolve the phylogenetic analysis. Although rpb2 was believed to be a single-copy gene, our cloning results showed that most species examined possessed several copies of these sequences. However, the genetic distance among copies from any one species was low, and these copies always formed monophyletic groups in our molecular trees. Our phylogenetic analyses of rpb2 data resulted in better resolved tree topologies compared to those based on cpDNA or nrITS data. Our results show that monophyly of the genus Litsea is supported only for section Litsea. As a genus, Litsea was shown to be polyphyletic. The genera Actinodaphne and Neolitsea were resolved as monophyletic groups in all analyses. They were also shown to be sisters and closer to the genus Lindera than to the genus Litsea. Our results also revealed that the genus Lindera is not a monophyletic group.